An image or a target color can be created either by optically averaging adjacent graphical elements of color, or by averaging layers of color. The generation of an image through the former process has been performed a number of ways in the past. With pointillism, target non-primary colors are approximated by the visual mixing of dots of primary colors placed in close proximity to each other. When viewed from a distance, the dots cannot be distinguished, and blend optically into each other. A similar technique is halftoning for printed media. Halftoning is the process where primary colors combine to approximate all other colors in the gamut of a given color space.
However, the object of pointillism and halftoning is for the larger image to form and for the individual dots that make up the image to be as indiscernible as possible. The object of these techniques is not for the dots to have any meaning or significance other than to contribute to the creation of the image. In halftoning, the primary colors that are used are finite, and very different from each other due to the limitations of printing techniques, not with the intention of making them contrast and be distinguishable from one another. If the goal were to have only two primary colors that are optimally contrasting used to create dots, a very limited and inadequate color gamut would result. Hence, if the goal is for one dot or graphical element to contrast with its adjacent dot to create any target color, both dots must be able to be made up of any color in a color gamut.
ASCII Art is another technique that relates to this invention. With ASCII Art, an image or pattern is formed by laying out different characters in a pattern on a surface based on their size and ink coverage (e.g. the capital “M” is bigger, has more ink coverage, and therefore appears darker than a period “.”). While ASCII images make sense visually, their text is gibberish when read, for their arrangement and order is solely for the benefit of the image, and not the text's meaning.
In the past, many images have been created from meaningful text by selectively colorizing text or the background of text. However, such colorizing of text has never been performed such as to accurately replicate a target image's colors through the colorization of the text and its background.
With regard to approximating a target color through the averaging of layers of color, rather than through the averaging of adjacent graphical elements of color, this too has been performed a number of ways in the past. For example, when applying makeup, people apply a thin transparent layer of off-white concealer underneath their eyes to diminish the appearance of redness or dark circles in that region. Thus, they visually approximate the target color of bright normal skin via the combination of the dark brown skin and the transparent off-white concealer. Another technique to undo the darkening effect of shadows on normal colored skin is to apply a layer of opaque or partially transparent lighter colored makeup to that region of the skin. This technique also visually approximates the target normal skin color by combining the shadow darkened skin color with the lighter colored makeup's color. These techniques however, rely only on approximation. There is no formula used in determining what the exact color of the concealer should be, or how opaque or transparent it should be, in order to precisely achieve the target skin color.